The present invention relates generally to a CDMA mobile communication system for receiving signals from multiple mobile subscriber terminals and, more particularly, to a method of processing signals received from multiple mobile subscriber terminals to reduce interference between signals from different mobile subscriber terminals.
Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) is a multiple access technique that allows multiple users to communicate simultaneously over the same frequency. Multiple access is achieved through the use of pseudorandom (PN) sequences called spreading codes that modulate the carrier, spreading the spectrum of the waveform. The sample rate (also called the chip rate) of the spreading codes is chosen so that the bandwidth of the transmitted signal is several times the bandwidth of the original signal. Spreading codes used in a CDMA system may be chosen so that the spreading codes used by different terminals are mutually orthogonal. When viewed in the time domain, the transmitted signals from different mobile terminals may overlap with each other. However, the use of orthogonal spreading codes separates the transmitted signals in code space.
A CDMA receiver separates overlapping signals by means of a correlator that uses the particular PN sequence for a desired signal to despread the received signal. The unwanted signals, whose spreading codes do not match the selected PN sequence, are not despread in bandwidth and, as a result, contribute only to the noise. The output of the correlator is sent to a narrow-bandwidth filter, that further reduces the interference from the unwanted signals.
In a CDMA system, the spreading codes are orthogonal only when the codes are aligned in time. When the spreading codes are shifted in time, there is some cross-correlation between spreading codes. This cross-correlation results in additional interference at the output of the correlator. Therefore, CDMA systems typically employ dynamic time alignment, wherein mobile terminals are commanded by the base station to either advance or retard their timing in order to preserve a desired time relationship between transmitted signals from different mobile terminals. However, the ability to maintain precise time alignment between signals from different mobile terminals is limited by multipath signal propagation, which is a characteristic of land-based mobile communication systems.
Multipath propagation is caused by reflections of the transmitted signals from surrounding objects (e.g., hills, buildings, etc.), giving rise to many delayed rays or echoes of a transmitted signal. While it may be possible to synchronize signals transmitted from two or more mobile terminals such that selected rays or echoes are received at a base station with a desired time relationship, reflected rays or echoes with different time delays will not be time aligned. Therefore, some interference resulting from cross-correlation between spreading codes is inevitable in a mobile communication system.